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First published online March 17, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 1326-1335 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02118

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Interaction between non-specific electrostatic forces and humoral factors in haemocyte attachment and encapsulation in the edible cockle, Cerastoderma edule

Emma C. Wootton^*, Elisabeth A. Dyrynda and Norman A. Ratcliffe

School of Environment and Society, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: e.c.wootton{at}swansea.ac.uk)

Accepted 23 January 2006

In invertebrates, encapsulation is the common immune defence reaction towards foreign bodies, including multicellular parasites, which enter the haemocoel and are too large to be phagocytosed. This immune response has been most extensively studied in insects, in which it is highly complex, involving a diversity of cellular and molecular processes, but little is known of this process in bivalve molluscs. Non-specific physicochemical properties are known to influence parasite–haemocyte interactions in many invertebrates, and these may provide the common basis of encapsulation on which highly specific biochemical interactions are imposed. The present study uses synthetic beads and thread to mimic inactive metacercarial cysts of trematodes, and thus investigates factors involved in the basic, non-specific mechanisms of cell attachment and encapsulation in the edible cockle, Cerastoderma edule. Results showed that positively charged targets stimulated the most vigorous response, and further detailed experiments revealed that non-specific electrostatic forces and humoral plasma factors have a synergistic role in haemocyte attachment and the encapsulation response of C. edule.

Key words: invertebrate immunity, encapsulation, cell attachment, surface charge, electrostatic force, humoral factor, haemocyte, bivalve, Cerastoderma edule